Gabby Giovenco

Mary Monsour
Foundations of Education and School Laws
SED 110 01
November 25, 2014

The Isms of education

Teaching appears to every educator in different ways. We all have ideas, and we all
have our own philosophies that we let guide us in our careers as teachers. My philosophy
is still developing and I feel it will always being changing for the better. It will be
growing around some main ideas. My classroom will consist of freethinking, hands on
work, adaptation, and problem solving, while also focusing on critical thinking. My goal
as an educator is also to be a motherly figure, nurturing, but still stern and guiding. I want
to be a teacher that always has my students best interests in mind. I want to be the
teacher I did not have, but I also want to be some of the teachers I did have. The ones
that inspired me.
Education is a very personal matter to both the student and the teacher. My goal is
to appeal to the students through different techniques. If I look at the philosophies of
education, I struggle to connect my goals to just one philosophy. My learnings have
taught me that it is okay to be more than one thing in life, and I think that in this case,
that idea applies very well. My philosophy is based off of free thinking which falls into

the category of Existentialism philosophy. Existentialism can be defined as a philosophy

based on freethinking, that reality belongs only to the thoughts we have of a subject
rather than the object, reality is subjective (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek 169). My goal as a
teacher, especially in the art department will be to encourage students to open their minds
and let their thoughts come out as their pieces. I want students to be able to think freely
and establish themselves along with their own personal styles.
The counter to this though, is the fact that I want to also guide students. I do not
just want to set them off and not have them prepared. That is why I want to incorporate
hands on methods. I will do demonstrations and allow for students to observe and ask
questions. I will have students practice certain methods before I set them free to stand on
their own two feet. Applying these methods that are learned in class not only to art but
also to everyday life. This type of teaching does not go along with Existentialism; it falls
into the Pragmatic philosophy. Pragmatism is a philosophy dedicated to problem solving
and validating information through experience (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek 169).
Pragmatism is the idea that we as humans learn through experience. This process would
be beneficial in my classroom because as artists we learn through trial and error. We
learn to work with what we have and go from there. Pragmatism would help kids develop
their problem solving skills in the art world. Artists sometimes work in pairs or more to
collaborate on a piece. I would like to work collaboration into the curriculum.
Collaboration is another part of pragmatism, which all students should have the chance to
learn. Students would learn how to work with others, including myself as the teacher.
My high school art teacher most likely influenced these ideas. He was very much
so an existentialist. He let us take topics of pieces, and turn them into our own

perceptions. In another sense, he was pragmatic because he did not grade easy like an
existentialist might. He graded based on quality. Quality is something that can always be
adapted or learned from; my past educator learned from experience, that art is subjective.
Meaning the only way to grade art is aesthetically. Other wise the grades could come off
biased. I connected this theory with the scientific method because both rely on facts
rather than thoughts. I think this teacher of mine may have been following existentialism
because as an artist, we need to think freely, and openly to produce art.
I believe he may be following pragmatism because artists also learn as we go. We
learn what colors work together, and how different media flows, and we observe and
grow as artist. We learn to critique, we learn to analyze what pieces were thought out,
what comes from emotion. As artists we are constantly learning from our own
experiences and observations of others. We are constantly applying new ideas. I believe
that as an art teacher he needed something to guide his efforts in the classroom that would
not be biased but would still incorporate an artists ideas and freewill. Thus pragmatism,
and existentialism work together to form his in depth curriculum.
While my philosophy focuses on free will, critical thinking, it also incorporates
problem solving. It does not necessarily focus on philosophies such as postmodernism,
idealism, or realism. Although all of these philosophies will be present in my classroom,
they will not be the basis for the curriculum I plan to teach. They will just be guiding
forces for my students minds and here is why; idealism can be defined as the belief that
our ideas are the only real thing, it does not believe in material objects. There are two
worlds, the spiritual and material world. The spiritual or mind world is seen to be the
important one because it holds everything that the material world does not, it holds our

ideas. Essentially in the classroom idealism is used to help establish morals in the
students (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek 169). These theorized morals will be applied to the
students efforts and respect to their peers. Realism is another philosophy that will
influence my classroom but will not be a focus point. Realism can be defined as meaning;
only things that are material or physical are real. Ideas are only perceptions, and not real
until we understand that reality is not part of our mind. In the sense of a teacher, this
process will be something including math or science, a subject that is factual and not an
idea will be applied through this philosophy in my classroom setting. Realism will always
deal with what can actual be sensed by the humanistic senses or will always be something
that can be proven (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek 169). Postmodernism is the last
philosophy we will discuss. Postmodernism can be defined as a constructivist theory that
focuses on the ideas of humans. Similar to the idealist philosophy, postmodernism also
believes that human ideas are only useful. It focuses on inequalities in culture, race and
gender. Postmodernism is a very real thing in society today. Many teachers believe that
inequalities are a real problem in todays world too (Ornstein, Levine, & Gutek 169). In
conclusion, all of these philosophies will be part of my classroom and curriculum. Just
some things will be of more focus. After all, all of these philosophies impacted education
throughout history, and they will continue to do so

Work cited

Ornstein, Allan C., Daniel U. Levine, Gerald L. Gutek, and David E. Vocke. Foundations
of Education. 11th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1989. Print.